


Making Friends

by AnonEhouse



Series: Tiny Tony 'verse [13]
Category: Iron Man (Comic), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Daddy Issues, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-26
Updated: 2012-03-26
Packaged: 2017-11-02 13:57:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/369736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is sixteen. Tony is not bored. Tony is having a wonderful time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Friends

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

M.I.T. is glorious. Tony has never before even dreamed of being surrounded by so many people who _get_ the beauty of engineering, who consider the twenty-four hour day more of a suggestion than an actual limit, and who judge him on his _ideas_ not on how well he manages to fake adherence to social norms.

Sure, it's awkward at first. Tony wears his student I.D. on a gold necklace to keep people from asking who he's visiting and if he's lost, but after Rush Week, where he proves that he can hold his liquor, go sightseeing all day and still discuss integrated circuits all night- with hands on demonstrations if requested- everyone on campus knows him on sight. There's finally an advantage in being absolutely unique. He joins Tau Epsilon Phi house because they're the friendliest- they don't care who he is, just what his mind is like. He rolls along with enthusiasm, jumping into the heaviest course load with pure, unadulterated glee, introducing himself to everyone and everything with a wide grin.

It's as if the universe suddenly expanded and the reduced pressure lets him explode in all directions. He does well in his classes, of course he does, but better than that, he discovers he actually likes parties, loud music and laughter, and affectionate drunks who ruffle his hair and don't mind in the least if he hugs them or kisses them or even... really, the agents' stories weren't all lies. Sex is great! 

Tony turns his alcohol neutralizer into a chewing gum after his first hangover so he can party without rudely turning down refreshment and still not get drunk. He doesn't need the buzz to fit in, to blur the people around him into soft, pretty colors, and he doesn't want to forget anything. 

He does pretty much live on ramen and coffee, and Student Union meals along with care packages from Jarvis, until he meets a girl who teaches him yoga and how to make vegetarian protein shakes and how to play the guitar. She spins away from his orbit in a few weeks, but it's friendly, he doesn't mind, there's always someone else, something else. It's so much, so fast, so pure, so right that he just glides along, with his arms spread wide to catch all the shining bright data fish in an endless ocean of input.

When he sees that there's a contest to create a robot, Tony dives into that, too. He decides to make two robots, mainly because he thinks one might become lonely. "You are going to be great," Tony tells the first robot as he tightens the last connector to the three-fingered manipulator set at the end of a balance arm.

The robot meeps in response and flails awkwardly, smacking Tony in the nose.

"Ow, you Dummy!" Tony dances around the lab with the robot circling after him, making low whirring noises. He reaches for a tissue and finds the box wavering in front of his face, held by the robot's manipulator. "Oh, I see, now you're sorry." He takes the tissue and stuffs one up the side of his nose to stop the bleeding. The robot's balance arm dips and it makes pathetic wee-whirring sounds. He pats it. "Ok, fine, not your fault. You're not house-broken yet. But you will be." Tony grins as the robot straightens and quiets. It's already learning. Good thing he gave it the basic personality of the mongrel puppy that lives in the Tau Epsilon Phi house. 

He names the second robot Butterfingers and bases it on a cat that lives in one of the 'cat-friendly' areas of the East Dorm. 'Butterball' is a huge, fluffy orange beast of indeterminate gender that willingly fetches balls and washes any arm presented to it. Butterfingers does not wash arms, but it is able to tell when a mess should be placed in a wastebasket. 

Tony is very happy. He'll win the contest, and Dad will be proud of him.


End file.
